#52FilmsByWomen: ANOTHER KIND OF GIRL

9/52 ANOTHER KIND OF GIRL.

No time for a feature this week but I saw this highly impactful short documentary directed by Khaldiya Jibawi. Khaldiya is a 17 year-old Syrian refugee. She was able to take a filmmaking workshop sponsored by Another Kind of Girl Collective, which has given a voice to young women living in Jordan refugee camps. Her film has screened at Sundance and is currently screening at SXSW.

I was struck by the sense of joy, community and courage that permeates Khaldiya’s film. She has found her best self in the midst of deeply troubling circumstances. It’s heartbreaking, though, to see all of children captured by her lens. Here are hilarious little kids goofing off and playing pretend like kids all over the world but they’re doing so in the bleakest of environments.

I was reminded a great deal of Anne Frank. Though Khaldiya is free to roam outside and her religion is different, she is still a young, bright mind trapped by war and tyranny….and the realization that even the simplest of dreams–to go to university–may never materialize. For the foreseeable future she is unable to move forwards or backwards; her existence is uncertain and static. Thank god for those creative portals that can transcend our physical circumstances.

You can watch Khaldiya’s film HERE. And you can learn more about Another Kind of Girl Collective HERE.